A Facebook live stream captured the moments after four abducted Americans crossed the border into Mexico, according to a report.
Four Americans, Latavia “Tay” McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Eric Williams and Zindell Brown, were kidnapped by members of a Mexican cartel as they crossed the border from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, Tamaulipas last week while trying to get a tummy tuck surgery.
The FBI said in a statement it cannot identify who survived, but Williams and McGee have been identified as survivors by their families.
According to CNN, one of the men inside the minivan that the four Americans were in recorded a live video on Facebook as it drove through a run-down section of Matamoros.
MEXICAN CARTEL ‘APOLOGIES’ IN LETTER FOR KIDDING AND MURDER OF AMERICANS, CONFIRMS MEMBERS ‘ACCOUNTABLE’
A general view of a storage shed behind a police cordon, at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans abducted by gunmen, in Matamoros, Mexico on March 7, 2023. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril)
“You’ve never been to Mexico,” one of the men said. “You don’t know what it is like in Mexico.”
The man later said “hola” in the video, causing laughter from people inside the car.
Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal said authorities found the four people inside a wooden shack guarded by a man who was later arrested.
The cartel moved the kidnapped Americans to different locations and at one point took them to a medical clinic “to create confusion and avoid attempts to rescue them,” according to WBTW.
Military personnel walk at the scene where authorities found the bodies of two of four Americans kidnapped by gunmen, in Matamoros, Mexico on March 7, 2023. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril)
An apology letter allegedly from the cartel behind the kidnappings and killings of Americans says it has dealt with its members who were “involved and responsible” in the incident, adding they have been turned over to authorities.
“We have decided to hand over those directly involved and responsible for the events, who at all times acted on the basis of their decision-making power and lack of discipline,” the letter said.
US GIVES ‘DO NOT TRAVEL’ NOTICE TO PORTIONS OF MEXICO AS SPRING BREAK APPROACH
Note purportedly left by the Gulf Cartel for Mexican authorities apologizing for the actions of some members held responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Americans last week. (Twitter)
An image of five men lying face down on the sidewalk accompanied the letter, which also apologized to the residents of Matamoros.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a news conference Tuesday that the two survivors were being repatriated to the United States “with the assistance of our Mexican partners, with the assistance of our officials in Mexico.”
The State Department is working to return the bodies of the deceased to the United States, but Mexican authorities say they will be handed over after forensic work has been done.
Barbara Burgess, the mother of survivor Latavia “Tay” McGee, said her daughter cried into the phone as they spoke.
“I asked her how she was,” Burgess said. “She’s fine. She was crying because her brother was killed, and he saw him die. He saw two of them die. They died in front of her.”
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Five Gulf Cartel members the group insists were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Americans south of the border last week. (Twitter)
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that “this type of attack is unacceptable,” adding that the Biden administration is “ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”
The Associated Press and Peter Aitken of Fox News contributed to this report.
